Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Liberty of Addicts

...Jesus
therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain
in my word, then you are truly my disciples. You will know the
truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We
are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone.
How do you say, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them,
“Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the
bondservant of sin. A bondservant doesn’t live in the house
forever. A son remains forever. If therefore the Son makes you free,
you will be free indeed.

There is a myth widely
taught in public schools today. (At least it was widely taught when
I was a kid.) That myth goes something like this: The United States
was founded by people who were pursuing liberty – especially
freedom from governmental restrictions which violated their
conscience, in order that each man might have full liberty to act in
accordance with the dictates of his conscience and reason. Therefore
the chief priority of free citizens of our glorious democracy must be
to guard this liberty at all costs, and to prevent the encroachment
of any governmental restrictions on this “liberty,” defined as I
have defined it here.

But let write an equivalent
definition of “liberty,” using simpler language. The United
States has defined liberty as the freedom to do whatever you want.
Plain and simple, isn't it?

Let me ask a question. If
you live in a country where you can do whatever you want, are you
actually free? Suppose you live in such a country, yet you are
addicted to alcohol or heroin. Let's also say that you have ready
access to however much alcohol or heroin you may desire. Are you
still free? Are you free when you are so enslaved to your addiction
that you can't do what you are supposed to do, and you can no
longer avoid suffering the consequences of not doing what you are
supposed to do and doing what you are not supposed to do?

I propose therefore a
radically different definition of liberty: the freedom to do what you
are supposed to do. Liberty is the freedom to obey moral “ought's.”

By that definition, America
is not free. America is a nation of addicts run by addicts. The
addicts who run the show are addicted to the continued accumulation
of ever more unholy concentrations of wealth. And they continue to
enrich themselves by pushing an addictive lifestyle onto the rest of
us. The means used by these pushers include advertising, media
capture, the promotion of dysfunctional trashy popular culture, and
the dishonest manipulation of political discourse in this country.
One particularly egregious example of that manipulation is the
attempt to demonize any governmental restriction on potentially
hurtful behaviors and policies of private citizens – especially
when they are wealthy.

Thus we have incidents like
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, for which British Petroleum still
has not been brought to book. We have blatant lying and
misrepresentation of facts by Fox News. We have fraud and
misinformation practiced by the Wall Street Journal. We have
banking and investment fraud practiced by outfits like Goldman Sachs
and MF Global. And no one goes to jail.

But in this country, it's
not just the extremely wealthy who can cause unspeakable harm to
their fellow citizens. Ordinary people can get in on the act. We
have seen two shooting sprees in the last seven days. The most
recent shooting spree claimed 27 lives (20 children and seven
adults), and happened within the last 24 hours. A few days ago,
there was a shooting spree at the Clackamas Town Center (less than 10
miles from where I live); three people are dead. According to some
reports I have read, there have been at least five random shooting
sprees in the United States this year.

Predictably, the latest
shooting spree has revived discussions regarding gun control.
Predictably, the Republican Party and the National Rifle Association
are gearing up to oppose any new restrictions on gun ownership, and
to further weaken those restrictions that already exist. But it's
funny how the number of shooting rampages in the United States has
been increasing every year since 2007, when the Federal Government
under President Bush allowed a number of gun ownership restrictions
to lapse, and several state houses controlled by Republicans began to
to allow just about anyone in those states to own and carry a gun.
According to Mother Jones, there have been at least 62
firearm-involved mass murders in the United States since 1982, and 43
of the 62 mass murderers were white males. In the vast majority of
cases, the weapons used were obtained legally. According to other
studies, the United States is the most violent nation in the OECD,
and the American South is the most violent region in the U.S.

It seems obvious that
mainstream America is increasingly a nation of disconnected,
antisocial individuals who are a menace to themselves and to each
other. It also seems obvious that rectifying this situation will
involve placing restrictions on people's access to technologies and
devices that can be used to hurt a lot of people. Guns are at the
top of the list of things that should have very restrictive access.
But cars can easily qualify as well. Many people who buy large SUV's
do so not because they need these vehicles, but because such vehicles
serve as instruments of intimidation.

Finally, it seems obvious
that unless this nation becomes truly free – free to do what we
ought – many of us are likely to destroy each other in the pursuit
of doing whatever we want. Trying to do whatever you crave doesn't
work well in an age of economic contraction and energy descent.

2 comments:

p-chic
said...

what- NO comments on this?? But you put everything so well... Exactly right. for whatever its worth, i must at least add my comment. no, my compliment: you have a far better way with words than i, and have thoroughly summed up so many of the thoughts that keep rolling through my own head.

i am forwarding a link to your blog to my teenage son, who has also lately begun to ponder the status quo.... hopefully he will take time to read & really consider what youve written here. like many young people now, he is of two minds- the "typical american" mold is strong and hard to break. but his mama didn't raise him to be a typical american boy. hopefully words such as yours will help him continue his quest to see life in a new light.

thank you so much for expressing your thoughts and observations with such straightforward integrity, and please keep writing about all that you see! i probly will not comment often... but know that you have another new fan, and kindred spirit staying tuned

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